AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

Year 3, Spring, Second Month, First Week.

After walking for two hours inside the cave, the team was very surprised but also relieved because they didn’t meet any beasts. Karl had warned them that near an energy vein, especially one this big and vastly spread, they would find a lot of beasts. That’s why the team decided to advance slowly and carefully inside the cave, they even changed their formation so the defender would be on the vanguard waiting to block anything.

Strangely, not a single beast appeared, which left them more anxious at every step. Fortunately, their surroundings were illuminated creating a less gloomy environment. Diana had changed her opinion about the operator again, now that the hunters needed to be on high alert for possible dangers, it was nice to have someone to focus exclusively on their task and checking for MT beasts.

However, their relative peace was about to end. A low but growing unidentified sound spread through the silent cave, causing the team to stop and prepare for a potential attack. The sound continued to grow to an alarming level prompting Diana to give an emergency order. The team clumsily but quickly tightened the formation and the operator gave his MQ crystal to the defender. The man almost dropped the crystal before placing it in the shield.

The defender raised the shield above their heads and a thick blue barrier encircled them. Not a second later, dozens of giant insect-beasts poured from a hole in the ceiling right in front of them. The beasts instinctively swarmed the barrier attacking it with furious chomps. The terrifying sight made everyone get even closer while they pray for the Origin’s protection.

Diana looked at the beasts and remembered something grandma Marlen told the Council a few months ago. There’s a LT beast that’s more feared than MT beasts, the earth ant. The beast wasn’t particularly dangerous, it doesn’t even have the usual strong hide commonly seen on other earth beasts, but their numbers made them deadly. Even Mages would hesitate to enter an anthill, hundreds of beasts attacking a target tirelessly was not easily dealt with.

However, the earth ants were apparently rare, after all, they needed an earth environment and enough food to survive. Diana finally understood why they didn’t meet any beasts in the cave. The cave was a perfect place to attract dozens of beasts daily, which would serve as food for the ant colony. Fortunately, their shield was holding, at least for now.

A trace of panic appeared in Diana’s face when she realized the barrier was getting thinner in some places where the attacks concentrated. Thankfully she was still calm enough to do something about it, she took the MQ crystal from her coat and place it in the shield. The unusual glow seen in the strained energy crystal lessened as the new crystal started to supply energy. The light around them diminish, but who would care for lighting if their barrier crumbled?

Minutes passed but the beasts didn’t make any sign of giving up, the team started to panic again, how long could they resist? The defender could no longer suppress the question in his mind:

“How can we make them leave?”

For almost a minute, nobody answered him, but then, the earlier ostracized operator spoke:

“Why don’t we leave instead? The barrier is portable after all…”

Diana almost choked, how could they forget something so obvious?

And so they moved. The team moved for an hour, slowly and carefully to not deactivate the barrier, which would result in their deaths. A couple of times, they moved too fast and the barrier pushed too many ants so they had to stop until it recovered, but they continued nonetheless.

Unfortunately, the ants also continued, tirelessly attacking the barrier. Diana was already considering going back and leave the cave, but then something changed. The number of ants attacking the front of the barrier started to thin revealing a water pond. It appeared that the ants wouldn’t go near the water. The team didn’t hesitate and moved straight towards the pond that covered the entire cave room.

They were so anxious to escape the ants that they didn’t even consider the dangers of entering the pond. Fortunately, the water only went as high as their calf, and in a few minutes, the team finally lost sight of the ants. Diana urged them to run faster, after all, the beasts could pass through the walls or ceiling and get them in no time.

They ran for half an hour until they dared to stop and plan their next moves. Since they have already come this far, it would be a waste to go back empty-handed. They could only hope the mine’s location didn’t pass when they were running. The team returned to their normal pace, carefully watching their surroundings but also minding the energy readings.

A few hours later, the operator finally identified something. He went back and forth in a stretch of the wall until he was confident enough that the crystal mine was behind the wall or in that direction. The boy took out the magic excavator and started to locate soft parts of the wall to dig. It took him almost 40 minutes to open a hole big enough for a person the pass.

Diana held her sword tightly and moved inside the hole while they waited apprehensively. One minute later, she was urging them to enter too. The scene inside the cave room left the team speechless. The light from their equipment passed through the walls revealing dozens of shining crystals half-buried in the walls. The different colors of stones around the room only made the scene more magical.

They continued to stare at the shining walls until the operator’s cough broke them out of the daze. Karl’s warning suddenly appeared on their minds, the crystal room would be a place with extremely high levels of energy. Fortunately, Diana masterfully coordinated them to take turns inside the room to dig out energy crystals until they couldn’t.

***

The night fell and the Mercenaries had to make camp again. They would soon arrive at the Green Mountains but they only found traces of the villagers. After the sound Mage’s warning, the leader of the Mercenaries started to be very careful, he would even organize extra watches during the night to avoid any surprises. However, he couldn’t understand why the Mage wasn’t acting, if someone was watching them, couldn’t she just capture them? The leader never considered the Mage wasn’t capable of doing so.

Near the camp, behind some trees, the scouting team was silently approaching. After weeks of only tracking the group, they finally received an order to approach them at night and made visual confirmation. Everybody knew the dangers of getting close to a potential enemy. However, being followed by an unknown group was nerve-wracking, without even knowing their numbers how could they prepare a proper defense?

Fortunately, this scouting group was part of the recently formed shadow unit. Although they didn’t have the same equipment as the main group, responsible for dealing with the MT beasts, they were all equipped with LQ shadow crystals, which provided the obscure property to their shadow cover. This effect wouldn’t conceal their presence but would make it difficult to see them, especially at night.

The team’s leader gave the signal to keep advancing, they soon started to see the camp. Without wasting any time, they started to account for everything in the camp, from the number of people to their weapons. The leader continued to move his eyes through the camp to check for anything unusual until his sight stopped on a light-grey-robed figure. He concentrated on the image and was able to make out the woman’s features, it looked like she was… smiling.

“You finally came close enough…”

Suddenly, all the scouts heard a voice close to their ears. They turned back scared but failed to find anyone. Only their leader realized who was speaking as he watched the woman’s mouth move. The voice continued speaking, almost whispering in the ears.

“You don’t need to be afraid… I just want to say hi…”

The leader signaled for the scouts to move back fast without revealing themselves.

“Please, bring a message to your leader on behalf of the new Wind Lord, Whispert… His Grace wants to collaborate… To show sincerity, His Grace won’t make any moves agaist you… Or against your Merchant supporter…”